Neuroelectronics Electrical Properties of Neurons

The potential of the extracellular fluid outside a neuron is defined to be zero. When a neuron is inactive, the excess internal negative charge causes the potential inside the cell membrane to be negative. The potential can change if the balance of ion flow is modified by the opening or closing of ion channels. Under normal conditions, neuronal membrane potentials vary over a range from about -90 to +50mV. Thermal energy to help transport ions across the membrane; energy gained or lost by an ion traversing the membrane is the same order of magnitude as its thermal energy. o Thermal energy of an ion is about where is the Boltzmann constant and T is the temperature on an absolute Kelvin scale. o Mole of ions has Avogadros number times as much thermal energy as a single ion or RT, where R is the universal gas constant: or at normal temperatures. . RT is about

To estimate the size of typical membrane potentials, we equate this to the energy gained or lost when a mole of ions crosses a membrane with a potential difference across it. This energy is where F is the Faraday Constant (F = 96480 Coulombs/mol equal to Avogadros number times the carge of a single proton q) Setting gives

is between 24 and 27mV.